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Economy
Pradeep Kumar

19/06/21 12:20 PM IST

Sale of illegal HTBt cotton seeds doubles

In news

The illegal cultivation of herbicide-tolerant (HT) Bt cotton has seen a huge jump this year.

Records
  • The sale of illegal seed packets has more than doubled from 30 lakh last year to 75 lakh this year.
  • The illegal seeds are sold using the brand name of prominent companies.
  • Farmers are at risk with such illegal cotton seed sale as there is no accountability of the quality of seed, it pollutes the environment, the industry is losing legitimate seed sale and the government also loses revenue in terms of tax collection.
Bt cotton
  • Bt cotton is the only transgenic crop that has been approved by the Centre for commercial cultivation in India.
  • It has been genetically modified to produce an insecticide to combat the cotton bollworm, a common pest.
  • The HTBt cotton variant adds another layer of modification, making the plant resistant to the herbicide glyphosate, but has not been approved by regulators. 
Source: The Hindu

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